1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to an inkjet printhead to remove bubbles and a bubble removing method of the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, inkjet printheads are devices for printing a color image on a printing medium by firing droplets of ink onto a desired region of the printing medium. Depending on the ink ejecting method, the inkjet printheads can be classified into two types: thermal inkjet printheads and piezoelectric inkjet printheads. The thermal inkjet printhead generates bubbles in ink to be ejected by using heat, and ejects the ink using an expansion of the bubbles. On the other hand, the piezoelectric inkjet printhead ejects ink using a pressure generated by deforming a piezoelectric material.
An ink flow channel in the printhead, in particular, a pressure chamber, should be filled with ink. Air flows through a nozzle of the printhead during printing, and the air and other gases dissolved in the ink grow into bubbles due to a temperature rise or other factors. The bubbles existing in the ink flow channel in the printhead, in particular, in the pressure chamber, degrades an ejection performance of the printhead. Also, as the temperature increases, the bubbles expand. This upsets a pressure balance of the ink in the printhead, which may cause the ink to leak through the nozzle.
In order to remove the bubbles, a method of forcibly sucking the ink through the nozzle using a vacuum pump has been used. However, the bubbles in a corner of the ink flow channel, in particular, in the pressure chamber, are not easily removed even using this conventional forcible sucking method.